The Role of Left Atrial Imaging in the Management of Atrial Fibrillation

Abstract

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most commonly encountered sustained cardiac rhythm disorder, is an independent risk factor for stroke, heart failure and death, and its development is promoted by a range of common cardiovascular pathologies. The management of AF is directed at these predisposing conditions, at reducing the risk of systemic thromboembolism, and towards rate or rhythm control of the arrhythmia. Guidelines increasingly support the use of catheter ablation (CA) as an early management strategy, with the efficacy of CA crucially dependent on the extent of left atrial (LA) structural remodeling; LA imaging plays a central role in each of identifying comorbidities, risk stratificatio..